Yet Another AR-2ax Restoration, With Some Questions

[jrfhoutx]

Last week I picked up a pair of AR-2ax (and a few other items that came with them as an 'all-or-nothing' lot of gear; a Sony TC-377, a TEAC AN-80, and a H.H. Scott StereoMaster 260). I've wanted a pair of 2ax for a while now, so I jumped at the chance, and when spread out over all the gear that came with them, the price was pretty good, even if they would need a little work (which I know almost every vintage AR speaker does). As it turned out, they are fairly low, semi-consecutive serial numbers (45340 & 45342) with the cloth surround woofers, original style tweeters, and standard non-2ax 'AR inc.' badges ( though no separate 'a' badge).


I gave them a quick listen when I picked them up and again once I got them home, while not in perfect working order, from what I did hear ( I had them connected to a Marantz 26 I've been working on), if these are considered a classic example of 'the New England sound', I seriously dig it and can't wait to get these back in tip top shape as it will make a serious upgrade to my system (and apparently the look of the original walnut finish has a very high WAF in my home ) . On one speaker both pots are out, and on the other speaker one of the two pots is out (not a deal breaker or even that big of a deal, just a little more work to do). The grille cloths are really dirty and I plan on replacing them both (as well as the grille frames since I broke one when removing it to inspect the speakers). The veneer is far from mint, there are some pretty good dings & dents in them (which doesn't bother me too much, it adds some character IMO), and at some point the original owner painted them brown (I initially only saw them at night and thought it was just a very dark patina), and put some chains on the backs (to hang them on the wall I assume, that was the popular thing to do wasn't it?).

I plan to start digging into them tomorrow, and plan to start by removing the other grille and then pull the woofers, fiberglas filler, and then pull the crossovers. I'm going to start with the crossovers (because the electrical side of things is my forte, and I can bring the parts inside without pissing off the wife too much), but while they're out of the boxes, I want to refinish the boxes.




So here's where my questions start:

I've read up on refinishing the veneer, but all the recommendations I've read talk about refinishing oiled veneer, not paint. While I've done some woodworking, electronics is more my bag, so I'm a bit at a loss here. Does anyone have any recommendations for removing the paint? I've seen the recommendation for using 'Restor-a-finish', should I use that, or just use a paint stripper like I've done on furniture?


After removing the grille on one speaker, it's obvious that they have never been removed before (the original staples were still holding the grille in place and the cloth appears to be original, just badly worn and aged), but looking at the 10" driver, some of the screws that hold it in place are pretty well stripped, is this a normal thing to see on these units? I'm a bit concerned that I'm going to have trouble pulling this driver because of these stripped screws, and really don't want to possibly damage the surrounds (or anything else for that matter) in the process.


Non-stripped head

Stripped heads

A few more pics of the one speaker with the grille removed

Full shot

Cloth surround 10" driver

Original AR badges (no individual 'a' badge though), you can also see the awful brown paint job in this shot.

Paperwork still attached to both speakers

 

[RxDx]

if the center dust caps are missing, I'd replace them first.

I'd probably use some Vise Grips on the screw heads. if all else fails, grind them off. There are wood nuts in the cabinet, so it's much harder to accidentally strip the holes for the screws..

Paint is difficult to get out of wood. It might not be as hard to get it off the wood (if it didn't soak in as much). I'm guessing if they were originally oiled cabinets, it's going to be harder. If the finish was originally shellac, you might fare a lot better. I can't determine the finish from your pictures.

 

[Teradacto58]

They make a screw remover bit that cuts into the stripped screw....Try Lowe's ....they should have them...You can drill a hole in a piece of plywood(or thin aluminium sheet) drill it a little larger than the screw....place it over the speaker ....to protect it...and try the screw extractor...

 

[jrfhoutx]

Thank you very much for the suggestions.

The dust caps are in place, there doesn't appear to actually be anything wrong with the drivers themselves, just that those screws are stripped. I really like the idea of the plywood as a protector, though I'll probably make that screw remover as a second to last resort (I never had much luck with extractor bits when I was a mechanic), and as a last resort grind the heads off. I guess I'll make a protector with some wood, and try to remove them as normal, then try the vice grips, with all the times I pulled stripped screws and bolts with vice grips when I was a mechanic, not sure why I didn't think of that in the first place...

I'm not sure what the original finish was for these cabinets, an aside from removing the paint, I'm not sure of how else to find out. Regardless of the original finish, the paint needs to come off, I'm just wondering what would be the best method of removal? If I can get the paint off I can always sand the cabinets down to bare wood and do a more original type of oiled finish (I have no problem with and am no stranger to having to put more than a little elbow grease into things to get them right).

Any recommendations on how to go about removing the paint?

 

[RxDx]

1st, I'm no expert in wood finishing. Having said that, I'd probably start with some kind of paint remover. Depending on how deeply the paint has penetrated the wood, I'd look at next steps. The paint might actually work like a stain, though I've not been that lucky in the past with paint removal. The veneer isn't all that thick, so you probably don't want to get too aggressive with sanding.

I've had good luck using oxalic acid for bleaching water stains. This might be an option. It's available as a powder by special order (I couldn't find any locally), and it's also an ingredient in wood deck cleaner.

 

[Oerets]

On the paint, if it is water based then Denatured Alcohol a XXX steel wood pad and elbow grease will remove it. The finish will return once you oil them down again.

I replaced the L-Pads on mine with some from another brand speakers cross-over. Worked out well for me.



Barney

 

[audiojones]

You might find that under the paint is an unstainable pine finish. This was a cost saving option for the AR line back in the day, the front trim piece would come as a finishable hardwood and the rest of the cabinet would just be pine so it could be painted or left raw (their thinking was that you only see the very front of the speaker in some bookshelf installations). It could be nice walnut veneer under there that someone painted over, but often when you see the older AR speakers with painted cabinets they are the pine boxes.

Also on those driver screws, don't push down too hard on them while backing them out because the T-nut on the bottom is only held in place with three little teeth and they'll push right out if you lean on them.

Good luck with them, those are the best version of the AR2ax IMO!

 

[jrfhoutx]

Ok, so with the driver screws I was worried about nothing, they were barely hand tight (not sure why they're stripped like that when they're not that tight). I got the crossovers pulled out (after removing all the Fiberglas stuffing), and inspected the rest of the inside of each box. The inductor coil and capacitor block in one of the speakers had detached from the board that all the crossover components are mounted to, so after desoldering the drivers, I left the coils in each box but pulled the cap block and L-pads from each box. Labelled everything and brought it all in the house, and now I'm working on cleaning up the L-pads. They weren't very bad at all, but they could still use a good cleaning, so I disassembled them and now I'm cleaning them. Once that's done and the new caps arrive, I'll start working on the cabinets. Going to go by the hardware store and get a small thing of paint stripper and start with one small section and see what I turn up... I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for walnut veneer...

 

[shacky]

Good luck with them, those are the best version of the AR2ax IMO!

IMO too :yes:

 

[jrfhoutx]

I'm hoping to have a day or two off work soon, and was planning on stripping the paint on these at that time. I know it's possible that these are the pine box version of the 2ax, but if they are, would it be at all possible to DIY and veneer over the pine? (I know it could be expensive, but money isn't an issue, I want to put these in my main setup, and a nice veneer has way more WAF in my home than a stained, painted, or even bare pine, and WAF is the main concern right now).